#20 - One should not play a practical joke on someone

[mankariousc]

That makes a lot more sense! Thank you!

[akanshalsat]

I Dont understand why D is wrong if for the reasoning for D it says "harm ANYONE" but that was deemed wrong, however even in C, it says "even though it would not show contempt for ANYONE". What then is the difference? I chose C, but reading the explanations, I'm confused as to why C is explained as correct if it contains similar items as D for which D is said to be wrong

[James Finch]

Hi Akansha,

This is a clear conditional reasoning problem, which means that diagramming is almost always necessary; as a parallel reasoning question, this is even more true. So first off, the reasoning in the stimulus is:

Show Contempt For OR Believe Significant Harm Practical Joke

and the contrapostive:

Practical Joke Contempt for AND Believe Significant Harm

So the correct answer will either parallel the initial diagram or its contrapositive.

Answer choice (C) parallels the initial diagram, as it diagrams out to:

Believe Significant Harm Practical Joke

Answer choice (D), however, doesn't work because it diagrams out to:

Believe Shows Contempt For Practical Joke

The critical difference being the belief versus a statement of actual fact. The intent requirement only exists on the Causing Significant Harm condition, not the Contempt one; it is immaterial whether the practical joker believes the joke shows contempt for the target, only that the joke actually shows that contempt.

Hope this helps!